It is desirable for children to learn to tie their own shoes at the earliest age so that the child becomes more self-reliant, and parents and others are spared the chore of always having to tie the shoestrings for the children. However, because young children have limited manual dexterity, and because the steps required to tie a bow in a shoestring are somewhat difficult and confusing for a child, the time required to teach a child to tie a bow can be lengthy and difficult.
There are several known devices for assisting children in learning how to tie their shoestrings. The simplest known device is a printed poster, usually done with bright colors and drawings that are attractive to children, which set out in sequence each of the steps required to tie a bow. This solution to the problem however is generally inadequate because it fails to physically assist the child in learning to tie a bow.
It is also known to utilize an enlarged cover that the child can slide over his or her shoe, and this cover is provided with very large shoestrings which make shoe tying and lacing easier than the much smaller shoestrings found in a child's shoe. While this device does make it easier to teach lacing and tying of a shoestring, it still lacks any mechanical device for physically assisting a child in learning how to tie a bow in a shoestring.